Skyrim has one of the biggest game communities around. Whether it’s modding or simply playing through the story, many players have been taken in by this expansive fantasy world. If you are curious about how to become a vampire in Skyrim, look no further.
Becoming a vampire is more than just being bitten by one of the honorable undead. It is a way of life that gives you the ability to be strong, fast, and sneaky. But how do you complete this process? There are many ways in which you can become a vampire in Skyrim, and these involve completing certain tasks to be rewarded when the Bloodline quest has been completed. This Bloodline can be obtained after completing a number of quests that involve reaching certain stage in being a Vampire Lord or using the console command to ask for it.
Picking a race for your Vampire in Skyrim can be one of the most important decisions that you make. While it may seem obvious at first, it’s probably best to take your time and choose carefully. There are some really awesome looking races out there, but there are also some not-so-awesome looking ones as well. I would love to say that looks aren’t important when choosing a race, but we both know that would be a bold-faced lie. A lot of people spend money on hardcore gaming computers with top of the line graphics cards just so they can see how good their characters look while they’re gaming. Why settle for less when it comes to creating your character?
How To Become A Vampire Skyrim
There is no shortage of ways to play Skyrim, with too many combinations of race, abilities, skills, weapons, armors, factions, and other factors to easily count. If you’re looking for some ideas, consider becoming a vampire. These powerful creatures are capable of unique abilities that others dread having to face.
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If you’re looking to become a vampire, it isn’t too hard. For everything you need to know about this transformation, and the unique perks (and disadvantages) it comes with, look no further than this simplified guide.
What is Vampirism?
vampire skyrim
Vampires in Skyrim are mostly in-tune with the basic idea of a vampire in our wider culture: undead beings that hate sunlight, feast on blood, and have heightened superhuman abilities.
Any race in the game can become a vampire, and they can be found in every corner of the world. Vampires have a different physical appearance than non-vampiric members of their race, including glowing red eyes, fangs, and pallid complexions.
With the Dawnguard DLC expansion, the role and lore of vampires in Skyrim was widely-expanded, and that will be covered here.
Sanguinare Vampiris
sanguinare vampiris skyrim
If you’re looking to become a vampire, you’ll need to find a way to contract the virus Sanguinare Vampiris. This strange virus infects a host and slowly converts them into a vampire over a course of three days.
When a vampire uses the spell Vampiric Drain on you, there’s a chance you may become infected. You can also become infected by weapons that vampires use. Being hit by the spell or a weapon doesn’t guarantee transmission, though — there’s about a 10% chance of it passing to you.
Once you’ve been infected, it takes three in-game days to progress to full conversion into vampirism.
You can remove the disease fairly easily before it progresses to actually vampirism. Taking a blessing from any shrine, a Potion of Cure Disease, and taking on lycanthropy all remove Sanguinare Vampiris from your active effects. Once it progresses to actual vampirism, though, it’ll be more difficult to remove, so you’ll have to decide quickly.
It’s also worth noting that you cannot contract Sanguinare Vampiris nor can you become a vampire if you are currently a werewolf.
Pros and Cons
vampiric drain skyrim
So, you’re trying to make up your mind on whether to cure Sanguinare Vampiris or let it progress to full vampire status? Here are the major pros and cons to consider.
Being a vampire comes with four stages that you’ll need to pay attention to, with each stage determining certain buffs and debuffs. Every 24 hours that you go without feeding will advance you by one stage. Feeding will reset you to stage one.
At stage one, you’ll have a 25% resistance to Frost, but a 25% weakness to Fire. (20% to both with Dawnguard). You’ll have access to the spells Vampiric Drain, Vampire’s Servant, and Vampire’s Sight. You’ll also be weaker to sunlight by 15 points.
At stage two, you’ll have 50% resistance to Frost and 50% weakness to Fire (30% to each with Dawnguard). You’ll be weaker to the sun by 30 points, but you’ll gain access to the ability Vampire’s Seduction, which allows you to calm targets once a day.
At stage three, your resistance to Frost and weakness to Fire both rise to 75% (40% with Dawnguard). Your attributes will weaken by 45 points in sunlight. At this stage, most NPCs will not interact with you.
At stage four, you’ll have 100% resistance to Frost, but 100% weakness to Fire (50% in Dawnguard). You’ll have a 60-point weakness to sunlight, but you’ll gain access to the ability Embrace of Shadows, which is a once-daily ability that lets you become invisible with night vision for three minutes. At this stage, NPCs will become hostile and attack you on sight.
With the Dawnguard DLC, you’ll be able to progress to a Vampire Lord — more on this later! Additionally, with Dawnguard, NPCs no longer react with hostility to you at the regular four stages of vampirism.
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There are additional effects to being a vampire that occur regardless of which stage you are at. They include the weakness to sunlight, stunting stamina, health, and magicka by the amounts listed above, and removing their ability to recover when in sunlight.
As a vampire, you’ll have 100% resistance to both disease and poison, as well as the Nightstalker’s Footsteps ability, which makes you 25% harder to detect while sneaking. Champion of the Night is an ability vampire’s gain, as well, which grants a 25% power boost to Illusion spells.
If you choose the Necromage perk as a Restoration skill perk, you’ll gain its advantages, since vampirism classifies you as undead. This gives a 25% boost to all buffs, debuffs, and enchantments.
Feeding
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As a vampire, you’ll need to consume blood for a few reasons.
Keeping yourself at stage one of vampirism is helpful to prevent a serious weakness to Fire, keeping your debuffs in sunlight as low as possible, as well as allowing you to blend in and not be attacked.
However, with the Dawnguard add-on, there’s very little reason to feed, as NPCs no longer attack you at stage four and the weakness to Fire is reduced heavily. However, you still have a debuff in sunlight even with Dawnguard, though this can be counteracted with the right gear enchantments.
If you have the vanilla game though, you’ll probably want to know the necessary information about feeding. Here’s how it works:
For every 24 in-game hours that you don’t feed, you’ll progress a stage in vampirism, up to stage four. Feeding resets you back to stage one. Without Dawnguard, you can only feed on sleeping humanoid characters. Approach them and click the interact button that lets you pickpocket them, but instead choose “Feed.”
If you are not a Vampire Lord, there is no real detriment to feeding. The person does not die, become a vampire, or even notice you most of the time. However, continued feeding will increase the chances of them waking up, much like pickpocketing.
With Dawnguard, you can now feed on conscious people. However, you’ll need to cast the Vampire’s Seduction spell first, which can only be used once a day and is not available at stage one. Plus, it only affects people at certain levels, so try not to pick anyone too strong.
